Spring 2025 ~ Letter from the Climate Action Team

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Spring 2025
Letter from the Climate Action Team

 

Dear UCM Members and Friends,

 

Our Climate Action Team is small but mighty! During the past few months we’ve offered the congregation a variety of opportunities to take actions to help bring about a more sustainable world. Here are a few actions we’ve been taking, and a few more to look forward to:

 

  • Following the lead of the Climate Resilience Study Group, Allen Clark is involved in the slow, steady progress toward converting our heating system from fossil fuels to biofuels.

 

  • Tim Flynn is developing a Resource Bank –  a list of church members willing to share their experiences in insulating homes, installing solar panels and heat pumps, etc. to provide information to others considering similar projects.

 

  • Peter Watt has created a bulletin board in the Vestry for posting guidelines for recycling, ideas for home energy saving, and more – check it out!

 

  • We met with Jon Copans, director of the Montpelier Commission for Recovery and Resilience, to better understand plans for dam removal, river mitigation and the challenges ahead;

 

  • We held a brainstorming discussion on reducing home energy use;

 

  • We held a workshop on recycling with John Jose, School Zero Waste Coordinator at CVSWMD;

 

  • We reviewed the UUA’s new Green Sanctuary 2030 program, with plans for our congregation to take part;

 

  • We’ve been promoting UCM’s Climate Library; and

 

  • We hosted an organizing meeting of Third Act VT to look into creating a Washington County chapter.

 

With all our efforts joined together, our impact grows! Join us for these upcoming events, and follow the weekly e-newsletters for details and updates:

 

Sunday, April 6 – 12 PM – Emergency Preparedness / GO-bag workshop with Jon Copans and Diana Chace 

 

Friday, April 11 – 6 PM – Climate Future Film Festival: 10 short films from 4 continents, organized by Peter Watt

 

Sunday, April 13 – 11:30 AM – Jared Duval, Director, Energy Action Network, discuss their annual report findings and implications

 

Sunday, May 25 – 11:45 AM – Tim Flynn, presentation on new UCM Resource Bank

 

Thank you for your passionate support of our climate justice work! ~ Current working group members of the Climate Action Team: Allen Clark, Tim Flynn, Maryann Ludlow, Anne Sarcka, Peter Watt